Hitchhiker's Guide to Veg*nism

Where Wild Things Are Cooked

2012-03-04T17:44:00.002-08:00

Today's recipe is a share, a result of a little research for something else than hummus to do with chickpeas; the finding is too good and easy to keep to myself, despite being slightly overcooked:

My only addition was the lemon juice sprinkled on the chickpeas right before eating.

I had to improvise with spices, since I didn't have sambar powder and cumin seeds. Therefore my version had
- ground cumin
- chili powder
- cajun spice
- salt and pepper
Ok, it probably tastes nothing like the original, but nonetheless good. Go come up with your own mix!

The other recipe today is an improvised mushroom sauce to top the rice and veggies.

The mushrooms here are honey agaric, hand picked and home dried (disclaimer: if you never picked mushrooms, don't try going to a nearby forest and harvesting - you can get poisoned and die, or get high, or bears will eat you, etc., so stay safe!) This recipe will probably work with any other mushroom just as well, although using dry mushrooms has an indisputable bonus - they need to be pre-soaked, which means you are producing 4 cups of excellent mushroom broth as a by-product. I used 3 cups to cook the rice in, and the remaining cup for the sauce (albeit the sauce could have taken 3 cups at least, the version below).

Wild Mushroom Sauce:
- 2 cups dry mushrooms, rehydrated (soaked for a couple of hours)
- 1 medium onion, sliced into 1/2" pieces
- 3 cups broth or water
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium carrot
- 5-6 cloves, thyme, salt, pepper, khmeli-suneli (good luck finding that mix, but oh so worth it!)
-----------------------------------------------
- preheat olive oil in a large pan on medium heat
- saute onions and mushrooms until the former is soft and translucent
- transfer onions and mushrooms out of the pan, and make a roux: heat another 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil, add flour until thick paste forms, cook while stirring frequently for a minute or two)
- add broth, by 1/2 cup portions, mixing and making sure there is no clumps of flour
- add mushrooms, onions, carrot, garlic and spices, cook uncovered until the sauce reduced to the desired thickness, about 15 minutes. If it's too thick, add water as needed.

TNT (Timewarp North Toast)

2012-02-28T06:27:00.007-08:00

My apartment reminds of a movie set - no two rooms look alike, they belong to different eras and places. As far as food-related spaces are concerned, the kitchen inevitably makes one think of Spain or Italy, of the photos of it in the middle of a Mediterranean cookbook my parents have. Mid-February snowbank in the courtyard undermines that daydream; but when warm wind is shuffling the curtains, some tapas and olive oil make you lose your space-time connection:

- 4 pieces of baguette toast (better yet parisien, it's wider)

- shallots, cut into circles

- 1-2 small tomatoes (Italian tomatoes are fine too), cut in half

- 1 garlic clove, peeled, cut in half

- cheese!

- olive oil (good quality, preferably unfiltered; the more taste - the better)

- FRESH basil leaves, minced

==========================================

- toast the bread

- rub the toasts with first garlic, then tomato

- place cheese on top, sprinkle with shallots and basil

- pour a couple of drops of olive oil on top

Ad tuberosum tempore

2012-02-26T21:06:00.001-08:00

The beauty of this recipe is timing. It takes about 40 minutes in the oven, thus allowing for other preparations and synchronizing the arrival of all the components of the meal onto the plate.

Potatoes:
- 3 large potatoes, cut into 1/4" half-circles
- 1 1/2 cup water and 1/2 a bullion cube OR 1 1/2 cup broth
- thyme and cumin
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup salsa verde (spicy stuff, adjust amount accordingly)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (juice of 1/2 lemon)
===================================
- place potatoes into an oven-safe dish
- sprinkle with thyme, be generous - all pieces should have some
- mix broth, garlic, cumin, salsa and lemon juice together in a cup, then pour onto potatoes
- cover the dish with foil
- bake at 375F until potatoes are soft

Easy stuff, eh? I suggest serving it with shallots, sour cream or fresh cheese. Now, if you feel that dinner is not complete without some protein and greenery, here's a quick-and-easy trio:

Broccoli is just steamed, nothing special there. Some soy sauce or balsamic vinegar would have made it more festive, but this time I didn't bother. Tofu and mushrooms are stir-fried, with an Asian twist:

- 1 lbs tofu, cubed into 1/2" pieces
- 1 medium onion, diced also into 1/2"
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ginger, I'd say 1" cubic (it's a guess, just put as much as you want), minced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil (strong tasting, use with caution)
===================================
- heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat
- start frying the tofu, occasionally stirring
- when tofu is golden on most sides, add onion and keep stir-frying until they are translucent
- add ginger, garlic and sesame oil, fry stirring often for 2 minutes
- add mushrooms, cover and cook until the desired tenderness is achieved

Judas Mashed Potatoes

2011-11-30T16:42:00.000-08:00

Something to betray the commensals for; or at least to impress the shit out of them. For full effect these must be served hot and fresh; the leftovers are nonetheless delicious and by no means should go to waste. Some recipes call for a specific type of potatoes, but since 90 percent of my cooking is low budget the only type of potatoes I use are the discount, or just the cheapest ones. As usual, adjust the quantities according to what you like.

Ingredients:
- 2-3 lbs potatoes, peeled, cubed
- one large red onion, chopped and caramelized (on medium heat, in olive oil, yes)
- 1/2 can of coconut milk
- cardamom, ground
- cloves, ground
- black pepper, FRESHLY GROUND
- Jamaican pepper (aka all-spice), ground
- salt

Making:
- boil potatoes until soft, but not falling apart of their own free will (cubing will speed up the process)
- drain the water and mash the potatoes
- add 1/4 can coconut milk and spices, mix
- add coconut milk as needed

My eastern European background requires any potatoes to be accompanied by sour cream, but that is entirely subjective.

Zen GG Tofu

2011-09-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Oh yes, I just dropped the t-word! You may be slightly offended or feel a bit cliche, but here's something that doesn't make fake meat, something real veg-tasty. The first principle of tofuism states that tofu is akin blank paper, thus takes on the taste of whatever it is marinated in. Zen suggests the balance of the four flavors, and GG stands for...

Garlic and Ginger Tofu

Ingredients:
1 lb x-firm tofu, cut into 1/2" strips
2-3 garlic cloves (depends on size), peeled, minced
2" piece of fresh ginger, peeled, minced
1/3 cup oil (olive/peanut)
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
10 drops liquid smoke
1-2 tbsp mustard
1-2 tsp honey or agave
1/6 cup vinegar (apple cider or rice)
freshly ground pepper
few drops of sesame oil (use with care - overwhelmingly strong taste)
few drops of red chili oil (optional, use with care - very spicy) or chili flakes

Process:
- place tofu, ginger and garlic into an oven-safe dish, mix
- mix the rest of the ingredients together, pour over the tofu
- marinate as little at 30 min to as long as 24h, turning and tossing occasionally
- bake at 425F for about 20 minutes, until tofu is golden

Notes:
- the composition of the marinade is not exact, so adjust to taste
- you can marinate in a ziplock bag instead of a dish; if you squeeze out all the air, there will be no need to turn the tofu
- adding onions during marination is nice as well, just remove them before baking and caramelize on medium heat, or use them for salad

Curry patch for pasta sauce v.1.01

2010-05-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

I hate pasta. Love noodles, hate pasta. I always saw it as emergency food; nothing else is left, not even the money to buy some bread - dig up the pasta in far and high cupboard. However, there is something worse, a true gastronomic nightmare. Pasta sauce. Aside from diced canned tomatoes, mushy overcooked onions, soggy peppers, it's the sour-ey liquid in which it all floats. While nothing can rectify the state of the veggies, there is an easy way to bring the whole mixture to the level above edible, at least where taste is concerned.

Note: I don't measure out spices, so all quantities are guesstimations; feel free to use your intuition.

Curry patch (v.1.01)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup nasty sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- few drops hot chili oil (optional, can use cayenne, tabasco or anything else spicy)
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp curry powder *
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp oregano **
- pinch of salt (optional, adjust to taste)
- dash black pepper

* the amount of curry is directly proportional to how much you like Indian food, but if it exceeds 2 teaspoons you risk not to taste anything else.
** to let you in on a little secret - I'm not even sure it was oregano. My spices are not labelled, so when I cook I just smell them and use what feels right.

Making:
- saute garlic and ginger in olive oil for a minute or two on medium heat (optional)
- mix all ingredients together
- heat in a saucepan on medium-low, stirring occasionally

Breakfast of Champions

2010-05-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

Not quite as literary intricate as Kurt Vonnegut's novel, but certainly more tasty than Kilgore Trout's finger, oatmeal! Dubbed the champion breakfast by a friend of mine upon hearing the account of it from another friend. This is not a rushed breakfast, since presentation plays just as much of a role as the food itself here. I have a couple of variations of it, one with oatmeal, one with cereals. The oatmeal is a bit time consuming, but unbeatable in cold weather, and leaves you time to make coffee in the process. Depending on your stove and kind of oatmeal you are using (assuming you are above the instant kind), it should take about 20-30 minutes in total, and here is how...

Version 1. Oatmeal
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dry oatmeal (I used steel cut variety)
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups milk (soy, almond, preferably not rice - it's too watery)
- 1/2 teaspoon nutritional yeast flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup dry goji berries
- 1/2 apple, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/3 cup nuts (i use walnuts and hazelnuts, but nothing prevents other kinds)
- 1 - 2 teaspoons honey, maple syrup, agave nectar (whatever floats your boat, can even skip it)
- any fresh fruit you like (my usual are bananas, kiwis and apples)

Making (note: for steel cut oats. rolled oats take less time to cook, I believe)
- bring milk to a boil, stir in oatmeal and cinnamon and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until soft (really depends on your stove here)
- while the oatmeal is cooking, cut up the remaining fruits and arrange in a pretty pattern on a plate. use the remaining time to make coffee ;)
- when oatmeal is about cooked (or even when completely ready), add nutritional yeast and goji berries, apple cubes and nuts
- add the sweet stuff (if you are using honey, especially unpasteurized, let the oatmeal cool a bit, ideally to 60 C) and eat!

The cereal version stems from my love for dry cereals and dislike for mushy ones. I used to just eat them from the box, dreading the moment when some internal voice would tell me to stop the massacre and do it the proper way (mainly because it was so dry and body requiring liquid would tempt the brain with the images of glasses of cold milk). This legitimizing cereal approach solves this dilemma - cereals are dry, and the whole thing is pretty damn healthy...

Version 2: Unorthodox cereals
Ingredients:
- 1/3 bowl of granola cereals
- 1/3 bowl of muesli cereals
- nuts, dry berries, raisins (anything goes here, really. I use the above-mentioned goji berries, walnuts and hazelnuts)
- fresh fruit (anything, but if they are not mushy they can go in the cereals)
- 4 - 5 teaspoons unpasteurized honey (here it's kind of the key ingredient, so not sure if it would work with other stuff)
- glass of milk

Making:
- Mix both cereals, nuts, dry berries and fruits (alternative A) in a bowl
- Arrange the remaining fruits in a pretty pattern on a plate (alternative B)
- pour 1 - 2 teaspoons of honey on top, mix as well as you can without destroying the fruits. I usually add more honey half way through the bowl, since it tends to stick to the top layers and not make it all the way down.
- sip the milk as needed, since the mixture its pretty dry and crunchy (the whole fun of it!)

Lingonberry jam!

2010-03-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

Most definitely vegan; during my vegetarian days, smearing lingonberry jam on cream cheese, which in turn was smeared on toast was a nearly religious experience. Well, not the smearing itself, but the consumption of the said mixture. Despite vegan cream cheese being just meeeh, but lingon jam is still awesome, in its most traditional form - on toast or even toast with margarine. A random strike of inspiration today: adding lingo jam to corn flakes.

Recipe:
3/4 bowl of corn flakes
4 teaspoons (pretty much to taste) of lingo jam
rice milk to fill the remaining space

mix and eat!!!

Oh, and where to get the lingonberry jam? IKEA!

Inulin and maltitol

2010-02-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

A post about something positive for once; I saw both of them on a wrapper of some chocolate, and did not buy it, because it I didn't know what they are. Both are plant-based, here's what the quick research yielded.

Maltitol is a sugar alcohol, a sweetener. Safe, although consumption of over 100 g/day (hundred grams!) can have laxative effect.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltitol

Inulin is much more interesting. It is also a sweetener, albeit much less potent (up to 10% of sweetness of sugar). It is found in "good for you" foods, such as garlic and leek. It is safe for diabetics and stimulates the growth of good bacteria in the intestine (i.e. considered to be a prebiotic); it could be beneficial in managing the cholesterol and sugar blood levels. Negative effect are the possible gassiness, and in people with fructose malabsorbtion could, again, have laxative effect, if taken in excessive quantities. Do check out the article, it has more interesting information, especially if you are into chemistry.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inulin

Lazy

2010-01-28T03:05:00.000-08:00

The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question "How can we eat?" the second by the question "Why do we eat?" and the third by the question "Where shall we have lunch?"

Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Either I remember incorrectly, or the translation which I read was imperfect, but in my mind the first two questions were "is there anything to eat?" and "what can we eat?" No matter which set of questions to choose, the three phases remain the same.
'09 was not the best year, nor was it the worst. It was lazy. I slacked off on quite a few things, including updating this blog and the very subject matter, *gasp* veganism and overall greenness. While there's no real feeling of guilt, nothing is particularly rewarding either (a lie, grilled goat cheese sandwiches!). Just lazy. Twenty-ten is ~~not much~~ different. Constructive lazy. Drunken master of consciousness. Path of least emotional resistance. One way or another, I'm going back to veganism, and to blog updates. Lazily.
No matter the means, the whole process of going vegan reminds of the quote above. First few weeks, or even couple of months: "is there anything to eat?" After the fifteenth "nope, not that" and desperate chowing down on carrots while sitting on the kitchen floor back to the impregnable fridge, one has no choice but the get creative and enter phase two: "what can I eat?" Veganomicon is dusted, password on Vegweb is reset, and experimentation begins. The blissful stage of discovery and colonization; savages marvel at tastes-just-like-the-real-thing-or-even-better creations, although don't manifest the urge to join the new faith. The tricky part here is feeding the troops during campaigns. While there is a fair number of foraging sites, they are oftentimes away from the main routes. Master Sun Tsu taught not to burden the army with excessive supplies, but dry provisions are a must. This brings about the third question; what to do, or more accurately where to go, when dry rations run out, but that is hard to answer out of the context.
There is a couple of things that hopefully will help to get through the first phase as quickly as possible. Since last summer I was planning to try this roasted asparagus recipe, and veganizing pumpkin cream cheese muffins has recently become one of the top priorities, aaaaaand...

On the road: veg*n resolutions

2009-05-24T21:10:00.000-07:00

In two days the name of this blog will take a much more literal sense: I'm going on a month and a half bicycle touring and camping trip in the Gaspesie and the Maritimes, followed by a few weeks of volunteering at a biology field research and the ride back to Montreal from New Brunswick.

While I try to avoid animal products and ingredients when in Montreal, on the road it might prove tricky. I'm planning to keep away from "dead food," as in meat, fish, etc; I'll be trying to maintain a vegan diet through the summer, but the restricted cooking facilities (a methyl alcohol stove, one small pot and a tiny frying pan) and complete lack of refrigiration will probably force me into dairy- and possibly egg-eating.

My initial food supplies consist of:

2 cans of beans in maple syrup sauce

1 can of lentils

4 medium size potatoes

1/2 pack of pasta (will be enough for two meals)

bread

olive oil

wallnuts and almonds

spices: basil, thyme, cinnamon, salt, pepper

some emergency packs of dry ramen and energy bars

Although most of these things will be easy to buy almost anywhere I'm heading, eating them over and over for three months will probably drive me crazy and I'll end up hunting porcupines (because apparently they are the only animal that can be eaten raw) and swear off vegetables for the rest of my life. So the success of keeping the trip vegan will depend mostly on availability of the food.

Stay tuned for the irregular veggie road updates! =)

Natural environment: Hair and water

2009-05-19T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I started to check the ingredients on shampoo and soap for gelatin and other animal products; recently I also took interest in the health aspect of veg*nism and overall "greenness." After going through a few lists of toxic, cancerogenic, and plain potentially harmful (whatever that might imply) ingredients,most of which have unpronounceable and impossible-to-remember names, commonly found in shampoo and soap, I decided to search for an easy alternative - some product that would right off the bat have ingredients that are easily understandable, of course animal-product free and, last but not least readily available; methodically reading through hundreds of ingredient lists in dozens of natural product stores did not seem a glorious passtime.

-> Hair
The alternative found was ridiculously simple and effective: "no 'poo" method. Dissolve one tablespoon of baking soda in water, and use instead of shampoo. To replace conditioner, dissolve a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in a cup of water and rinse your hair with it. Done! My hair feels just as clean as with some fancy shampoo, and takes way more time to get grease than before. The only drawback - showering now resembles cooking...

I haven't found a working replacement for soap yet (may be baking soda, this tofu of the cleaning world, can work too?), but stopped using the liquid kind, since all-natural bars are much easier to find.

-> Water

Since all these explorations were mainly driven by environmental concerns, I started to look for ways to "green up" the whole showering process:

1. The simplest thing: cut down the shower time. Saves water and energy.

2. To make the water warmer, turn down the cold water, instead of adding hot.

3. Turn down the temperature in general; it will save energy needed to heat the water, will probably make you get out of the shower faster and you wouldn't need to use a fan, since there will be less steam.

4. Navy shower: turn on the water, get wet, turn off the water, soap up and scrub, turn the water back on and rinse.

5. Collect the water in a bucket while waiting for it to warm up and use to water plants, flush the toilet or anything else (ok, I don't do that... yet!)

6. Go with soda and vinegar thing: less packaging and production waste from shampoo, less chemicals washed down the drain.

Vatroushka: Russian Cheesecake

2009-05-12T12:55:00.000-07:00

Since the blog seems to be evolving from ingredients into something more general, here's a recipe of a vegan Russian cheesecake. The real prototype uses cottage cheese as filling and sweet yeast dough. Veganizing this cake was incredibly easy and it turned out exactly like the original, taste- and texture-wise. The color on the picture is a bit grim, but it's because I'm obsessed with whole wheat flour, and also used hemp milk (which is kinda grey).

Ingredients:

I. Dough base:

- 1 1/2 tbsp flour

- 1/2 tsp sugar

- 1/4 cup warm water

- 1 tbsp (7.5 to 9 grams) active dry yeast

Dough rest:

- 1/2 cup liquid (water, soy/rice/hemp/etc milk, soy yogurt... anything goes)

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 1/8 cup sugar

- 1/4 cup oil or melted margarine

- 1 egg substitute (e.g. 3 tbsp apple sauce, 1 banana, etc)

- 3-4 cups flour

II. Making the dough:

- in a bowl mix 1 1/2 tbsp flour with 1/2 tsp sugar and yeast.

- add 1/3 of the warm water and mix well, then add the remaining water

- put in a warm (20-30 C) place until bubbles start to appear (5 - 10 minutes)

- when bubbles appear, add oil and the 1/2 cup of liquid

- beat in the egg substitute, salt and sugar

- stir in 2 of the 3 cups of flour

- keep adding flour by 1/4 of a cup while the dough can be mixed with a spoon

- pour 1/2 cup flour on the table and knead until smooth and then some more, adding flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking to the table

- form dough in a ball, place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and keep in a warm place until doubled in size

- beat down, cover and let seat again until doubled

- beat down, form into desired shape, and let stand about 30 minutes

- bake at ~400-450 F (200-230 C), for this recipe 15-20 minutes

III. Filling:

Ingredients (no exact quantities, adjust to taste):

- 2 packs (1 lb each), of soft (NOT silken, it has to crumble) tofu

- lemon juice

- orange zest (fresh or dried)

- vanilla

- sugar

- soy/rice/hemp/etc milk

IV. Making:

- blend tofu into small crumbs

- add all the rest and blend well

tips:

- since you're simulating cottage cheese, the result should be grainy and not liquid, but sticking together relatively well; be careful with soy milk

- you can increase the stickiness by adding oil, cornstarch dissolved in a bit of water, or apple sauce

V. Assembly:

- separate the dough into a big ball and a small one (size of approximately 1/2 of your fist)

- roll the big piece into a circle and put it into a lightly greased oven-friendly cast iron pan (or baking dish, anything that can go in the oven); you should be able to bend the edge of the dough to cover the walls of the pan

- pour the filling on the dough and fold the edge of the dough (if any)

- cut the little piece into 10 even smaller one, roll them by hand into strips and make the grid on top of the filling

- bake for 15-20 minutes at 400-450 F (200-230 C)

Kelp caviar, books, yeast

2009-05-03T21:37:00.001-07:00

First of all I got to apologize for disappearing for a while. Finals (and well, won't lie, couple of non-academic books) is all the distraction it takes to give up regular posting. I'll try to catch up in the next couple of weeks, but cannot promise anything for the summer, since it I will probably be getting around a computer rather irregularly. So today's post is going to be a mixed bunch, with all sort of things that popped up since the last update.

First of all, I'll step away from the self-imposed restrictions and go with another product review. Although I'm avoiding processed foods (and ultimately eliminating all prepackaged foods from my shopping list), I'm greatly curious about novelty products. My own interest mainly manifests itself in form of "how the hell did they come up with that, and how did they make it?!" pondering; my parents however are more pragmatic, and would just buy the thing and try it. Despite all our differences when it comes to food, they are very supportive of my veg*n/green/organic endeavours, thus we rarely end up with things completely inedible. In any case, about a month ago, my dad brought home this:

I was somewhat nonplussed to see the extent to which imitation products have gone, but if it keeps sturgeons in the water instead of the plate I call it a win. All but one ingredient were of undoubtedly plant origin; the questionable one is the natural flavour; the label reads "sturgeon flavour." Question: can natural sturgeon flavour be produced without any fish involved? This is exactly the question what I emailed the company with, originally intending not to post this until they reply; now, a month and a half later, seeing that the answer have not been granted, I'm posting what I have:

1. Their website, as well as the package, claims that the product is all natural.

2. The package is marked "No Fish Roe," "Seaweed-based caviar imitation," and "Vegetarian."

3. *Disclaimer: this one is a rumour and might be wrong*: my mom recalls coming across the company's product launch about a year ago, and talking to a representative there, who confirmed that the natural flavour is indeed a fish product.

4. Note that the product is mainly marketed as a more affordable and healthier version of caviar, not its veg*n alternative. A similar product that's been available for a while is Cavi-Art, which IS marketed as being vegetarian.

Although I can't claim with certainty that Kelp Caviar is using fish products, and hoping to be able to post the opposite, I will personally avoid it until accurate information will be available. If you come across any data please post it!

As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, I got a chance to read something not school related; it was, at least partially related to this blog though. One book, which I've mentioned already, is "Animal Ingredients A to Z" by E.G. Smith Collective; the name is rather descriptive: the book is a list of animal ingredients, and some more. In addition to an alphabetical list of the animal products, some having such names that you involuntarily start writing a scrabble cheat-sheet, it has a vegan booze list, as well as a quick "intro to veganism" chapter. The material is not limited to food, but touches on the subjects of health and hygiene products, and my favorite: vegan myths (anything wrong with chewing gum?) The book seems to err slightly on the safe side, as in listing ingredients that can be both plant and animal derived in the "usually of animal origin," while other sources list them as mainly non-animal (see the second paragraph of this earlier post). It would be a good, not intimidating guide for beginners, and a pretty solid reference for everybody.

Another thing I was reading is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moscowitz and Terry Hope Romero from the Post Punk Kitchen. This one is also beginner-friendly, and has detailed instructions from the most basic things like soaking beans to the fairly complex recipes. Before that, I was mainly looking for the recipes online, but it is rather nice to have a cookbook when in hesitation over what to do with the seemingly disconnected stuff in the fridge. The sauces are certainly a blast!

By now I figured that I won't be able to post new unveg*n ingredients frequently, because although there is quite a lot of them, relatively few are present in most of the foods, few others in beauty products, etc. In any case, I figured it would make sense to cover the veg*n-friendly ones too, since there is some new ones I only started using in the past couple of weeks. Not that I didn't know about them before, I just didn't know what to do with them, so would always walk right by. Among them are silken tofu (think smoothies, mayo-style dressing, and lots of cake potential), cornmeal (cornbread is ridiculously easy to make and it is grand), and nutritional yeast. The latter was on my mind for a while now, many vegan recipes call for it, and it is generally said to be a reliable source of vitamin B12, about which we're all so paranoid. I never really knew where could I get this yeast, and I rarely end up near a health food store to check (that's where a lot of people claim to get it). In the US the Red Star brand is usually mentioned, but I haven't seen it in Canada. So if you live in Montreal, know: nutritional yeast can be found at the Atwater market, at Douceurs du Marché. The mystery uncovered: this flaky substance makes for great cheesy sauce, and some might find it tasty to eat just by itself. The nutritional information table claimed that 10g (2 teaspoons) give you 570% of the daily value of B12, and some equally ridiculous amounts of some other vitamins (but I don't remember which ones, and the package is gone. Will check next time). So next time somebody starts beetwelving you, just give them the bag of yeast to read! Now, this is not to be confused with the active yeast used for baking, it is a rather different thing, and they have different properties.

Follow-up: cholesterol and lactic acid

2009-04-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Cholesterol

Since I found out that cholesterol is found only in animal product, I started reading the nutritional content in addition to the ingredient list. In less than a week, I came across two products: 70% dark chocolate and ready-made thai pesto that don't list any possible animal products, yet have cholesterol in the nutritional info section. Intrestingly, for chocolate, other flavors (also dark) by the same brand were fine. Same for pesto: other types, while having cholesterol, listed cheese as one of the ingredients, and one other kind (can't recall the flavor) had no cheese and no cholesterol. So it looks pretty ambiguios, whether its a copy-past label design error or a mistake in the list. Either way, read both ingredients and nutrients.

Lactic Acid

Now, this one is rather interesting. Numerous sources (vrg.org and wikipedia) both state that industrially used lactae/lactic acid is produced by bacterial fermentation and is suitable for vegans. Some other sources (e.g. the book "Animal Ingredients A to Z" by E.G. Smith Collective) groups them with L-lactate, which is of animal origin. It seems however that it is not economically viable to extract it for separate uses, so it is mainly found in dairy products, while bacterially producted lactic acid is used in non-dairy foods as preservative (my guess, no proof).

Char

2009-04-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

No, not the volcanically active homeplanet of Zerg race from StarCraft...

(image from http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Char)

... Although not too far off - char is the product of burning bones and hooves; it is used to filter some alcohol drinks (some beers/wines/liquor) and some cane sugar (including some brown sugars). Beet sugar is not filtered with it.

Source: http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj97mar/973sugar.htm

The problem is that char is never listed on the package, because it is not actually an ingredient. Also a lot of products that do not use it, don't state so.

Here is a list of some vegan (un)friendly US sugar-making companies; I haven't found a similar resource for Canada or other parts of the world yet.

Bubble Tea

2009-03-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'm a sucker for bubble tea (no pun intended!); I don't get around it often, but when I do it's a food orgy. So I looked it up, to see whether it's veg*n.

1. Tapioca pearls (bubbles) are vegan: made from starch.

2. The drink itself may or may not contain dairy ingredients. It is pretty clear that the milk tea is not vegan, although sometimes a non-dairy creamer can be used (still not necessarily vegan). More confusing when it is just tea or fruit juice, since sometimes they are made from mixes and you pretty much never know whats in them.

3. Jellies that are used instead of/along with tapioca appear to be vegan, at least I came across no information on their unveg*ness. No mentions of gelatin either.

Lactic acid (lactate)

2009-03-29T14:55:00.000-07:00

Once again, I stand corrected: The Vegan Society has a list of potentially non-vegan ingredients. Their website also has a lot of other useful resources.

Keep in mind the word "potential:" a lot of these ingredients can come from both animal and non-animal sources. For example, lactic acid (lactate) is listed as derived form milk, whether other sources claim is is most often vegan:

Quote:

"If it's lactate or lactic acid, it's not from dairy (exception - sterol lactate due to the stearic acid). "Lac" ingredients are usually produced by a fermentation process using cornstarch or beet sugar. Lactose is always from dairy."

Source: http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#lac

Wikipedia article says that although it can be produced from lactose, it usually comes from bacterial culture.

Cholesterol

2009-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

Another thing that I never thought about, but discovered while researching the flavor question is that vegan food cannot have any cholesterol in it; cholesterol is present only in animal-based foods. This means that both the list of the ingredients and the nutritional information can be used to determine whether the product is vegan or not. It would be a good idea to examine both, because it appears that some products marketed as vegan are actually not (only heard rumors, but better safe than sorry).

Some plant food can stimulate the production of cholesterol by human body, but will not contain cholesterol itself.

Source:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12647.0

Artificial and natural flavoring

2009-03-25T11:07:00.000-07:00

There is something that puzzled me for a while; what is artificial chicken/meat flavor?

Artificial flavors can contain natural ingredients that underwent certain chemical treatment, or contain part natural, part lab-synthesised ingredients. Bottom line: artificial OR natural flavor can be almost anything.

Source:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3289/is_n11_v166/ai_20224156

This article is also great because it dicusses the use of "natural flavor" as a catch phrase; people tend to associate it with healthy food, while in most cases there is no difference, and sometimes artificial flavors can even be safer, and almost always - cheaper.

Also, in the first post I complained that there is no complete list of ingredients with descriptions; well, there is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_number

Next time instead of Googling frantically, can check that first.

Vitamin D3

2009-03-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Vitamin D3 is found (not exclusively) in margarine. It is of animal origin, from sheep (wool, according to wikipedia) or from fish according to vrg.org.

Quote:

"What is the difference between vitamin D2 and D3?

D-2 (ergocalciferol) is derived from yeast, while D-3 (cholecalciferol) is derived from lanolin (from sheep) or fish. D-2 and D-3 are both used to fortify milk and other dairy products. Some D-3 vitamin supplements are made with fish oil."

Source:

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#d3

This one is a big shame of mine, since I didn't know of its unsafe-ness untill only recently; I found it out completely by accident, while looking for a recipe. Now I make sure that I know what all the ingredients on the list mean before I buy something. This self-embarassment is part of the inspiration for this blog - the more these "boobie-traps" will be talked about, the higher the chances of people coming across the right information before they make a mistake. In any case - better late than never!

Rennet

2009-03-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Rennet is used in cheese production to help the coagulation of milk. It is produced from the stomacks of calves. There are many kinds of cheese that use microbial enzymes (vegetarian-friendly) instead of rennet, since the former are cheaper; rennet is most often found in tranditional European cheese.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet

Welcome, young Vegenauts!

2009-03-24T21:02:00.000-07:00

After being vegetarian for over 3 years and vegan for about 2, I still feel a bit cheated every time I read a label on a seemingly veg*n-friendly product (most often food), and find that it is not as safe as it looked from afar. The problem that I still encounter once in a while is that sometimes when standing among shelves and holding an obscure package I have no clue what certain ingredients are. They are written out very clearly, no blame on the manufacturer; only I didn't know that I had to look up monoglycerides, vitamine D and PVC before leaving the house. No excuses for ignorance, but right there, with no access to the universal sources of knowledge such as wikipedia, it is rather frustrating to try to figure out what is toxic, what is of animal origin, what is edible but undesirable and what is actually good.

Although once you've got the ingredient list at hands' reach, and you look up the items one by one, the information is almost always readily available. However, what I haven't seen yet is some kind of alert list of the "unsafe" substances that commonly appear in products that otherwise would be veg*n-friendly. So far the closest I've seen were the lists of brands, with descriptions and classifications of products.

In this blog I want to share some of my veg experiments, discoveries and disapointments, as well as dedmystify some terms that seem to appear fairly often on veg*n sites, but are rarely explained; so here's another attempt at no-nonsense guide to being veg*n in a non-veg*n society for the new (and not so new) veg*ns out there!

Stay tuned for updates, and feel free to send me your own stories and experiences that you would like to share.